Conveying device for snow removing mechanism



w. E. KLAUER 2,144,316

CONVEYING DEVICE FOR SNOW REMOVING MECHANISM Jan. 17, 1939.

Filed Aug. 12, 1.936 s Sheets-Sheet 1 3mm V/a/fcr Z. ff/afler,

Jan. 11, 1939.

W. E. KLAUER CONVEYING DEVI E FOR SNOW REMOVING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 12, 1936 3 Sheets-Shoot 2 Wa/fer E ff/m/er Q \Q Jan. 17, 1939. w. E. KLAUER v CONVEYING DEVI E FOR SNOW REMOVING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 12, 1936 3 Sheets-Shoot 3 Patented Jan. 17, 193 9 PATENT OFFICE CONVEYING DEVICEFOR SNOW REMOVING MECHANISM Walter E. Klauer, Dubuque, Iowa Application August 12, 1936, Serial No. 95,696

13 Claims.

My invention relates to conveying devices for snow removing mechanisms, and particularly for power driven, rotary snow removers.

The invention is particularly applicable to the type of snow remover in which a horizontally arranged auger or conveyor extending transversely to the direction of movement of the snow remover is driven to feed the snow to a snow discharging mechanism.

The usual type of auger heretofore used in such arrangements has been a continuous screw auger of uniform diameter. Such augers are fairly satisfactory in hard snow, but where the snow is soft or wet, the forward movement of the vehicle is likely -to cause the snow to pack in the auger.

The primary object of the present invenion is to provide an aguer of such construction that the packing of snow is avoided. This permits the vehicle to move ata higher rate of speed in snow and particularly in a heavy, wet snow, and thus increases the efficiency of the device.

One of the reasons for the packing of the snow is that the forward movement of the vehicle is superimposed on the lateral movement of the auger. Unless the auger conveys the snow lat- ,erally as rapidly as it enters the auger through the forward motion of the vehicle, obviously with the usual typeof snow remover having a continuous auger of equal diameter the snow will pack.

30 This not only tends to stop progress of the plow but further puts a heavy and unusual load on the snow discharging mechanism.

The primary feature-of the present invention, which tends to avoid blocking of the snow re- 35 mover, resides in the fact that the portion of the auger towards which the snow is fed is of less diameter than the remainder thereof. In the preferred form of the invention in which the auger is formed of two parts each feeding snow 40 towards the center of the auger unit, this means that the central portion of the auger is of less diameter than the ends thereof. This arrangement helps to avoid packing of the snow adjacent the snow discharging means to which the snow 45 is fed by the conveyor.

In a snow remover which has an opening into or, fan casing, the snow fed by the augers naturally gathers in front of this opening and must move through it to the snow discharging fan.

50 The presence of the full size auger flights heretofore used makes it difllcult for the snow fed by the augers and the .snow directly in front of the opening to pass into the opening, especially when the snow is soft and wet. If on the other 55 hand the auger shafts are left without any sort of snow breaking means, they will, particularly in hard snow, pack the snow in front of them to' such an extent as to block the motion of the snow remover.

By providing ingthe central portions of the au- 5 gers, or the partsjdn front of the auger casing, snow breaking or agitating means having less conveying action than the end portions of the angers, an arrangement is provided which will operate satisfactorily in either hard or soft snow. 10 The central part offers less resistance to snow movement than the end portions, so that congestion in front of the fan opening is relieved and the snow is readily fed into the fan without obstruction. On the other hand, the snow breaking 15 means in hard snow clear a path for the auger shaft, feeding the snow out of the path of the shaft.

Another feature of the invention resides in a novel end construction of the auger. The end flight is ordinarily subjected to a heavy load, and an objectof the invention is to reinforce the fight by securing it to a flange fixed on the auger shaft. Further objects and advantages of the invention will'appear more fully from the following description, particularly when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which form a Dart thereof.

In the drawings: v v 1 Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a snow remover embodying myinventionr Fig. 2 is a front view of the same.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged top plan view of one form of auger. 1

Fig. 4 is an end view of the same.

Fig. 5 is a cross sectionon the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Figs. 6 to 9 show modified forms of angers.

As shown in Fig. 1, the snow remover includes a frame comprising a transverse rear frame memher 2 and side frame members 4. At the front of the side frame members is mounted a scoop 6 which forms the bottom of the casing. The central portion of the rear wall 12 of the casing is provided with an opening l4 therein which permits snow to pass through into a rotatably mounted fan casing 16 provided with a fan I! and a discharge spout I8.

The augeritself consists of a hollow shaft 20 rotatably mounted in the side walls of the casing. The ,detailed construction of this auger is shown in Figs. 3 to 5.

The auger is formed of two sections ,each designed so as to feed snow towards the center. At the ends, there are mounted, .on'the shaft 20,

collars 22 which are provided with helical flanges 24 substantially in the form of segments of a circle. Secured to these flanges by bolts 26 are the end portions 28 of the helical auger blades. Each end portion 28 forms substantially one complete revolution around the shaft and is succeeded by another portion 30, the ends of these two portions 28 and 30 overlapping as at 32 and being welded together.

The portion 30 is supported at suitable points by pins 34 fixed in theshaft and extending radially therethrough, to which the section 30 is welded. The section 30 throughout its length is of equal height with the section 28 so that down to the inner end 36 of this section the diameter of the auger is substantially constant. Another auger section 38 is then provided having a. height considerably less than the height of the auger section 30, but overlapping the same as at 40. The overlapping parts of the two auger sections are welded together.

The section 38 also extends for substantially one complete revolution around the shaft. The final central section 42 extends for only slightly over 90 around the shaft and is supported by a pin 44 which extends through the shaft, the sections 42 on opposite sides being welded to the opposite projection portions of this pin. Section 42 at its outer end overlaps the inner end of section 38 as at 45 and is welded thereto. The height of section 42 is equal to the height of section 38.

It will be evident that this construction provides a tapered auger which has an outer end portion of relatively large diameter and a central inner portion in front of the discharge opening of relatively small diameter. In other'words, the diameter of the auger in effect decreases in the direction in which it feeds snow. This is of considerable assistance in preventing packing of the snow and blocking of the operation of the snow remover. It is particularly effective in the type of auger in which there are two outer sections both feeding toward the center, but is of general utility in augers of other types.

As shown in Fig. 2, in the preferred form of the invention a plurality of these augers are arranged one above the other and extending transversely to the direction of movement of the snow remover represented by the arrow a. The augers and the snow discharging mechanism included in the fan casing l6 may be driven in. any suitable and well known manner.

Fig. 6 shows a modified form of auger, in which the end sections 28 are similar to those shown in Figs. 1 to 6. The central portion of the conveyor in front of the fan opening, however, comprises interrupted helical sections 50, of the same height as the outer sections. These sections each have an angular dimension of substantially 90, and are angularly spaced from each other around the shaft by 90. The adjacent edges of the sections are located in substantially the same planes transverse to the axis of the auger shaft. Such interrupted sections break up the snow, but do not offer the same resistance to snow movement as the full end sections 28.

Obviously the spacing, dimensions and arrangement of these sections may vary. For example, as shown in Fig. 7, the interrupted sections 52 may also be of less height than the end sections 28.

Fig. 8 shows an auger in which knives 54 are mounted on the section of the conveyor shaft which lies, in front of the fan casing.

In the form shown in Fig. 9, paddles 56 may be mounted on the central portion of the shaft.

In fact, any sort of snow breaking means which offer less resistance to snow than the full end scctions 28 may be used within the scope of the invention.

While I have described herein some embodiments of my invention, I wish it to be clearly understood that I do not intend to limit myself thereby except within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a snow remover, snow discharging means,

and a conveyor for feeding snow to said discharging means comprising an auger the diameter of which decreases in the direction of movement of snow thereby. v 2. In a snow remover, snow discharging means, and a conveyor for feeding snow to said discharging means comprising an auger the diameter of which decreases in the direction of movement of snow thereby and mounted to turn about a honzontal axis transverse to the direction of movement of the snow remover.

3'. In a snow remover, a casing, a shaft mounted in said casing to turn about a horizontal axis extending transversely to the direction of movement of the snow remover, and an auger mounted on said shaft, said auger decreasing in diameter in the direction of the movement of snow thereby.

4. In a snow remover, a casing, snow discharging means mounted behind said casing, a shaft mounted in said casing to turn about an axis extending transversely to the direction of movement of the snow remover, and an auger mounted on said shaft, said auger decreasing in diameter toward'said snow discharging means.

5. In a snow remover, a casing, snow discharging means mounted behind said casing, a shaft mounted in said casing to turn about an axis extending transversely to the direction of movement of the snow remover, an auger mounted on said shaft, the portion of said auger in front of said discharging means being of less diameter than the remainder thereof.

6. In a snow remover, a casing, a shaft mounted in said casing to turn about an axis extending transversely to the direction of mo ement of the snow remover, an auger mounted on said shaft, said auger comprising two sections each decreasing in diameter from the outside toward the center of the casing, an opening in the central portion of the rear wall of the casing, and snow discharging means mounted behind said opening.

7. In a snow remover, a casing having side walls, a shaft mounted in said side walls to turn about an axis extending transversely to the direction of movement of the snow remover, an auger mounted on said shaft, said auger comprising two sections each adapted to feed snow from the outside toward the center of the casing, an opening in the central portion of the rear wall of the casing, and snow discharging means mounted behind said opening, the portion of the auger in front of said opening being of less diameter than the ends thereof.

8. In a snow remover, a casing, snow discharging means mounted behind said casing, a shaft mounted in said casing to turn about an axis extending transversely to the direction of movement of the snow remover, an auger mounted on said shaft, the portion of said auger in front of said discharging means comprising interrupted auger sections.

9. A snow remover having a horizontal conveyer comprising an anger having a plurality of conveyer sections, each of said sections being of constant diameter, the diameter of the sections being different and decreasing in the direction of the feed of snow by the conveyer.

10. In a snow remover, a snow discharging means, and means .to convey snow horizontally from both sides towards said discharging means, said conveyer means comprising conveyer portions at the sides of said discharging means and a portion capable of breaking up snow but offering less resistance to movement of snow transversely to said conveying means than said first portions in front of said discharging means,

11. In a snow remover, a snow discharging means, and means to convey snow horizontally from both sides towards said discharging means, said conveyer means comprising a member having a portion extending in front of said discharging means, means on the portions of said member at the sides of said discharging means to convey snow towards said discharging means, and means on the first said portion oflering less resistance to movement of snow transversely to said conveying means than said conveying means for breaking up snow in front of said discharging means.

12. In a snow remover having a casing. snow discharging mechanism behind said casing, and an opening in said casing communicating with said snow discharging mechanism, means in said casing to convey snow horizontally from both sides towards said opening and means in front of said opening for breaking up snow, said last means offering less resistance 'to movement of snow transversely to said conveying means than said conveying means.

13. In a snow remover having a casing, a snow discharging mechanism behind said casing, and an opening in the casing communicating with said snow discharging mechanism, a shaft extending horizontally across said casing, means on said shaft at opposite sides of said opening to convey snow horizontally towards said opening, and means on said shaft in front of said opening for breaking up snow, said last means offering less resistance to movement of snow transversely to said conveying means than said conveying means.

WALTER E. KLAUER. 

